Mental Health Awareness Week 2025: Mental health conference brings south west Londoners together | Latest News

Today, over 150 mental health leaders, clinicians, community partners, and people with lived experience of mental ill health gathered at Everyday Church in Wimbledon for the annual South West London Mental Health Conference.

Held as part of Mental Health Awareness Week and following its theme of ‘Community’, the event focused on exploring three key ambitions from the South West London Mental Health Strategy.  

Hosted by NHS South West London Integrated Care System (ICS) and South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, the conference featured a series of expert-led sessions and interactive workshops exploring some of the most pressing challenges facing the mental health system today - from youth wellbeing to health inclusion, anti-racism and the prevention of crisis and early support.

Commenting on the day, Trust Chief Executive, Vanessa Ford said: 

This conference is about bringing people together - across communities, sectors and services. It has been vital to listen to everyone who joined us today, and to use those outcomes to shape how we deliver on the ambitions set out in our South West London Mental Health Strategy.  

We want South West London to be the best place to live for emotional wellbeing and to ensure everyone, regardless of their background, has access to the mental health support they need.

Bringing lived experience and frontline insights into the heart of this conversation is essential if we want to deliver modern mental healthcare that prioritises co-production, prevention and early support, equity of access and anti-racism. Thank you to everyone who has taken part today and played a part in this.

The day opened with powerful reflections from Mike Bell, Chair of NHS South West London, Vanessa Ford, Chief Executive of South West London and St George’s, and Dr Iram Sattar MBE, one of the Trust’s Non-Executive Directors. Voices of lived experience featured throughout the event, beginning with that of young person supported by local youth mental health charity, Jigsaw4U and followed by Peer Support Workers sharing their lived experience.

Leaders from the Ethnicity and Mental Health Improvement Project (EMHIP) also spoke powerfully about the challenges of stigma and access and the need for culturally appropriate care and approaches rooted in the community.

Jermaine, a Peer Support Worker at South West London and St George’s said:

“It was so important to me that I was able to access crisis support when I really needed it. Telephone lines and text message support allowed me to connect how I wanted to. I used to only access support when I hit the bottom of the spiral, but over the years, and with support, I now know the signals and can access support earlier to help stop me from hitting crisis point.”

Stephen Loizou, Chief Executive of Jigsaw4u said :

As a charity providing mental health and wellbeing services across South West London, Jigsaw4u were delighted to be asked to present at the conference. We are facing enormous demand for our services, and hope the contributions made today by our staff and guests with lived experience will help us and our partners achieve the ambitions of South West London Mental Health Strategy.

The theme of ‘Community’ is particularly important to Jigsaw4u, as we strive to be part of a mental health system which provides equal and timely access to everyone who needs support.

Matthew Brown, Team Manager of the South West London Recovery Café said:

Today’s conference was a great opportunity to bring people together from across the local mental health community to hear a range of views and ideas.

Supporting people's mental health is never a solo task, so the theme of community is something we wholeheartedly support. I was very grateful for the chance to share what we do at the South West London Recovery Cafe and the Sunshine Recovery Café, and the role community-based services can play in de-escalation of mental health crisis and prevention.

     

A day of collaboration and action  

Attendees chose from a number of breakout sessions across three core themes:  

• Children and Young People: Including sessions on navigating social media anxiety, holistic care models like iThrive, and support available to young people through community organisations like Off The Record.
• Health Inequalities: Workshops examined inclusive care for rough sleepers, the work of the Ethnicity and Mental Health Improvement Project (EMHIP), and community-based approaches to reducing health inequalities.
• Prevention of Crisis: Including sessions led by leading suicide prevention campaign Hold the Hope, and sessions exploring crisis support available through local Recovery Cafes, perinatal services and services in Croydon working to prevent relapse. 

The final plenary brought together Katie Fisher, Chief Executive of NHS South West London ICS, Ann Beasley, Trust Chair, and a Lived Experience Practitioner who offered closing reflections on the day’s events.

Katie Fisher, Chief Executive of NHS South West London said: 

“Real change happens when we listen deeply, work across boundaries and put people at the heart of everything we do. It starts with community. It means working together across the system with a focus on prevention, early intervention, and tackling inequalities, particularly for those historically underserved by mental health services.

“We’re committed to working hand-in-hand with local councils, voluntary groups and our diverse workforce to drive innovation. From our £280m investment in new mental health facilities to creating employment, training and volunteering opportunities through our Better Communities Programme.” 

Mike Bell, Chair of NHS South West London said:

“If we’re to create services fit for the future, we must listen to and learn from the 1.4 million people we serve across some of the most diverse communities in London.

“With nearly 3,000 staff and 120 clinical teams supporting 70,000 people at any one time, our strength lies in partnership with patients, carers, community leaders, and colleagues across south west London health and care. Events like today’s give us the opportunity to challenge the status quo, share our experiences, and build a more compassionate, joined-up system. ”

Highlights from the day 

Across the day we collated over 30 'take aways from each of the session. These will be taken forward to support the ongoing delivery of the South West London Mental Health Strategy, Highlights from each included the following: 

1.    In our sessions on Children and Young People’s mental health we heard from: 

•   Jigsaw4u talked about social media and young people’s mental health and how we all need to lead by example with using our phones less – a digital detox!
•   Off The Record from Croydon told us why meeting people face-to-face is so important mentally and physically in the work we all do
• And Richmond Mind spoke about the power of organisations coming together to wrap support around young people, as close to home as possible

2.    In our sessions on Health Inequalities we heard from:

• South London Listens talked about commissioning and empowering communities to shape their own solutions and care models
• Merton Connected spoke about the importance of long-term, stable funding and investment to provide lasting support and building trust for vulnerable communities
• The Trust's rough sleeping team spoke about how barriers to activities and to social interaction can lead to loneliness. This impacts physical and mental health more. We need to focus on creating connections.
•  The EMHIP Hubs talked about the challenges of stigma and access and the need for culturally appropriate care and approaches rooted in the community

3.    And in our sessions on Crisis Prevention we heard from:

• The Hestia Recovery Café on the importance of conversation-first, human approaches and keeping formal processes to a minimum
•   Social Interest Group in Croydon on why step and step down approaches are so important to support the discharge process
• The Trust's perinatal mental health team on why mothers and families should be empowered to ask for help rather than normalising their experience
• And Hold the Hope who talked about the importance of having open and honest conversations about suicide awareness